Day #30/175 Days

Work boxes are now in full swing. Today I did boxes for the three boys. We're tweaking as we go.

Lego Man:

1. Handwriting
2. AWANA verses
3. Nature walk page (we went on a walk yesterday & this page had them writing what they say/found - from ABCTeach & I think this is a freebie from them)
4. Nature Journal - draw a picture of a fall tree
5. October Glyph - from ABCTeach's member site (very much worth it - more on this later)
6. Private Devotions
7. Math-U-See
8. Quarter Mile Math drill
9. Computer pages (ABC Teach again & I think it's a freebie)
10. Writing Journal
11. Mad Libs
12. Assigned reading (The Hobbit) for 30 minutes
13. BONUS bag: Fix the American Sign Language manual alphabet File Folder game

Conductors bags contained:

1. Handwriting
2. AWANA
3. Nature Walk page (see link above)
4. Nature Journal - draw a fall tree
5. October glyph (see link above)
6. Writing Journal
7. Private Devotions
8. Math-U-See
9. Reptile lapbook element - this is something we started working on last month for a review but Conductor never finished his. He still wants to so I'll be adding one element from the lapbook to his boxes for him to work on & then we'll be putting it all together.
10. Quarter Mile Math drill
11. Assigned Reading book (The Stolen Train)

Today was Happy's first day using full work boxes. He did pretty well. I do need to keep in mind that he needs things in the morning that are more independent so he can work on those while the older boys & I are doing our read alouds & other subjects together. If I save all of his work until the afternoon, he is too tired to focus well.

1. AWANA
2. How Many Scoops file folder game (counting/math)
3. Math-U-See (Primer)
4. Read books with me (The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck by Beatrix Potter & Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey)
5. Nature Walk page - the same as the older boys but I let him cut & paste the correct words from the word bank at the bottom of the page.
6. Pencil Match File Folder game (counting again)
7. Handwriting
8. Busy Bugs game from Discovery Toys

Happy had four more bags to do but at this point he had reached his limit so I let him go play in his room.

Miss H did the following during school time:

1. colored (this is always a favorite for her)
2. Aquadoodle (not in to this very much today)
3. Straws & Pringle can - she puts the in & out in a hole in the cover, dumps them out, picks them up - she enjoys this one
4. stickers & paper & coloring - another favorite

Day #29/175 Days

Our first day using work boxes & it seems to be going well. Here's how today went...

• Read Aloud for about 30 minutes (Farmer Boy & Sarah's Wish)
• Young Scholar's Guide to the Composers - Handel
• Work boxes

Lego-Man's boxes:

1. Handwriting
2. Sign language file folder (matching ABC signs to letters)
3. Writing Journal
4. Play Simon Says for 10 minutes (he led Miss H & Happy in a game - they all loved it)
5. Private Devotions (The boys are reading through some Illustrated Children's Bible books I have - they are like comic books with illustrations but use real Bible text. Lego-Man is reading Genesis.)
6. Candy Factory file folder game (counting change)
7. Computer Pages (from ABCTeach.com)
8. Math-U-See (tests 1 & 2)
9. Nature journal (draw a fall leaf)
10. Quarter Mile Math drill (16 minutes)
11. Awana verses (15 minutes)
12. Assigned Reading (The Hobbit) for 30 minutes
13. Create a Fire Escape plan

He spent the afternoon continuing on his research project. He wants a small pet. I have told him to do all the research on what kind, what they need to live and eat, and how much it will cost. Then he can present his case to his dad & I. He's spending hours working on it.

Conductor's Boxes:

1. Handwriting
2. Watch sign language video (ABC's)
3. Writing journal
4. Ride bike outside for 10 minutes
5. Buried Treasure file folder game
6. AWANA verses (15 minutes)
7. Private devotions (15 minutes)
8. Nature journal - draw a fall leaf
9. Quarter Mile Math drill (15 minutes)
10. Math-U-See - tests 1 & 2
11. Create a Fire Escape Plan
12. Assigned Reading (30 minutes) The Stolen Train

Miss H did this:

• colored some stickers
• played in the rice box for the first time - loved it
• played Simon Says with Lego-Man & Happy (one of Lego-Man's things to do for his work box)
• Watched a VeggieTale video

Happy was allowed to do mostly free play today. I'll be working on his work boxes tonight & we'll add them to the mix tomorrow.

Day #28/175 Days - Fire Station Tour

We did this tour about three years ago. I have photos of Happy standing in one of the tires & it was taller than he was. Now he's taller than the tires. ;-)

The Madison Fire Department is a local one to us & is a volunteer department. The closest full-time fire department is about an hour away. This particular station has a Junior Axillary made up of high school student who want to be fire firefighters. They are the ones that did the tour for us. At the end, their instructor did a talk on fire safety.

All the kids had a great time & my boys enjoyed it.

Day #27/175 Days

We're back to school! Well, sort of. I'm still wanting to implement workboxes for all the boys but it's a very time consuming process to put together. More on that later. Right now I only have Ben set up & not fully the way I would like. But it's working today so far.

We began the morning with Circle Time. This included:

• Farmer Boy (read aloud 2 chapters)
• Sarah's Wish (a TOS selection - review up next week)
  
• Popcorn Prayer
• Star Spangled Banner
• Pledge of Allegiance
  
• Blessed Assurance (our hymn we're working on)
  
• 24 family ways - we sang The Wise Man Built His House
  
• Read Proverbs 14
• Continuing to learn to sign John 3:16 - we'll go until we can all do this without looking.

Our "School Together" time continued with two TOS selections I'm reviewing from Bright Ideas Press. The first is called Over Our Heads in Wonder (science) - We learned about air & did an experiment with candles. I lit a candle & then put a metal pan on top. We watched as it went out & talked about why it did. Then I had Conductor try to blow it out by blowing on the jar - straight at it - rather than from the top. Again, we talked about why this doesn't work.

The second book (which I really like) is called Young Scholar's Guide to Composers. We read about Vivaldi today and did some of the activities in the book while we listened to his Four Seasons play on YouTube.

While the big boys & I worked on this, Happy & Miss H worked on the own things. I was able to pick up (with the help of my sister) a great little table that works great for these two. It was at The Christmas Tree Shop & it has a wipe off surface & two chairs.

Happy did these:

• animal magnet match (I put magnets on the back of one set & use a cookie sheet as a base)
  
• alpha match file folder
• spent some time in his room
  

Miss H did these:

• colored her stickers (I can't find where I saw these on the web but I ran them through my Xyron 150 machine turning them in to her own stickers. She LOVED these!)
  
• animal magnet match
• Busy Bugs (Discover Toy)
  
• wooden puzzles (Melissa & Doug)
  

Lunch break

Lego-Man than began working on his workboxes. This was our first day trying this. He had nine "boxes" (I'm actually using gallon ziplock bags but may switch) to complete. They held:

1. Private Devotions
2. Math
3. Writing Journal
4. AWANA
5. Sign language DVD - working on the ABC's
6. Quarter Mile Math drill practice
7. Assigned reading
8. Computer pages to read & do some questions on
9. Famous person report for photography class

Conductor did similar activities but without the workboxes. He completed:

• Private Devotions
• Math
• Writing Journal
• AWANA
• Quarter Mile Math drill practice
• Assigned reading

Happy also did:

• Private Devotions
• Math
• Parking Patterns file folder game
• Some pages in a kindergarten workbook

It was at that point that I realized Happy wasn't feeling good & needed to go lay down. He woke up with a fever three hours later. It seems the winter cold season has started here.

Day #26/175 Days - LC Bates

Today was our 3rd class at the LC Bates Natural History Museum. It's really a very unique museum for this area of the state. If you live locally, I consider it a must see.

The class today was on insects. We started upstairs viewing some wasp nests. They were pretty impressive.

We also stopped here for a bit to look at this insect collection. This cabinet houses a pretty extensive collection. It was built (the cabinet & the collection) by a woman from Maine (I can't remember her name) who lived in the late 1800's. Her doctor had told her that for health reasons she should spend as much time outside as she possibly could. Thus began her hobby of collecting & cataloging insects that lived near her.

We also checked out some more collections upstairs as well as some photographs. This one is pretty cool.

It's a wasp nest built around an existing bird house.

We then headed downstairs to the classroom. This is where the real fun begins for the kids I think. Serena, our guide & teacher, does a really wonderful job making the subject come alive for the kids. Here is a photo of Conductor & his cousin demonstrating how the wings of a dragonfly work.

There were also a lot of preserved specimens that were handed round for closer inspection.

Dead-leaf moth

Giant Katydid

Serena also does a good job of breaking up the class time so that the kids (mostly boys!) are not sitting for 30 minutes or more. Here is a photo of Lego-Man, Happy & another little boy from class demonstrating how an insects legs move. Can you see how Serena is holding her fingers off to the side? The trick here was that Lego-Man was to move in the opposite direction from Happy & the other boy. I never realized that is how an insect moves. This is another reason why I do enjoy these classes.

Then at the end of the class time, there is usually some sort of hands-on thing for the kids to do - usually. Serena had lots of bug glasses for the kids to try out. Here is Lego-Man sporting a pair.

Then she had rubbing plates of various insects. Even Miss H got to do this one.

Happy showing his ant eye glasses.

Conductor is wearing some 3D glasses. They had some large cards with various insect parts on them that showed up in 3D with the glasses.

All-in-all the kids enjoy the class (even if they have to grumble about going...but we'll leave names out here). I should also mention that Lego-Man took most of these photos (except for the last few). We look forward to our next one in a few weeks.

Day #25/175 Days

I have stepped back from school for the last two weeks while I try to figure out what's working & what isn't. A lot isn't. I'm spending my days printing lots of stuff & figuring out new systems and what not. Today though we accomplished a few fun things.

The first idea was a fall sun catcher. I saw the idea at Frugal Family Fun Blog (she has some really neat ideas for very frugal crafts for kids) back in September. I kept it in my Google Reader inbox for quite some time & the boys & I finally made a couple today. I was at the tail end of my contact paper but was able to get enough to make two. Thank goodness Miss H was sleeping but we'll do another one for her soon.

Click HERE for directions on how to make an Easy Autumn Tree Sun catcher.

Then we played a game of Dora The Explorer Chutes and Ladders. Let me just say "thank goodness it didn't last forever!" ;-) The boys love it when we play games though so we'll be adding in more over the coming months. I think Happy won.

We then moved on to another craft. I again heard about it on Chasing Cheerios (a great blog for learning with little ones) but the directions are at Make and Takes. These are adorable little apples and we made some pumpkins as well.

Happy winding up a pumpkin - his finished apple is right there.

Conductors finished pieces - two apples & two pumpkins.

Happy's finished products - two apples and one pumpkin.

Click HERE for directions on how to make these.

Next they played another game. It is a fall tic-tac-toe game. Remember me saying I've been spending a lot of time printing & laminating stuff? This is one of those things. It's found at ABCteach in their member section.

The boys played one game & then I played Happy. They liked it. It's quick & easy & since everything is laminated, reusable as well.

Conductor was then sent to read a book (Lego-Man was reading this whole time) & I set Happy to doing this 100 Apples Page. I hear about it at My Montessori Journey. She has a post explaining how it's used in her classroom with a link to the website she found the free download on. Happy was very proud when he finished this.

Off to do some more printing and laminating. Hopefully next week we'll have our new & improved homeschool up & running!

Day #24/175 Days

Just AWANA club....

Happy completed his first section towards earning his rank & earned his uniform tonight.
Conductor is continuing to work on his gate.
Lego-Man is still doing a great job with the Cubbies (3-4 year olds)

(I'm sure there were more educational things they did this week, but I didn't write them down so I'm only counting this.)